New Australians (Yellow Peril 1980/2015) 2015
LIM, Eugenia
Registration number
1590556
Artist/maker
LIM, Eugenia
Title
New Australians (Yellow Peril 1980/2015)
Production date
2015
Medium
digital print on mylar emergency blanket
Dimensions (H x W x D)
210 x 160 cm
Credit line
Purchased, 2015
City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection
© Courtesy of the artist and STATION, Australia
Keywords
Summary
As its title suggests, this artwork is a reprint of a photograph taken in 1980, when Ron Robertson-Swann’s sculpture ‘Vault’ was located at City Square. Eugenia Lim has digitally reprinted the original image on a gold-coloured mylar emergency blanket.
The uproar that followed the installation of ‘Vault’ in City Square led to it being popularly known by the racist moniker ‘Yellow Peril’. The couple standing in front of the sculpture are Lim’s Chinese–Singaporean parents, who were, at the time, recently arrived migrants. The themes of Australia’s gold-rush history, migration and identity all coalesce in this artwork, which was shown in Eugenia Lim’s exhibition ‘Yellow Peril’, held at Bus Projects, Melbourne (2015), Metro Arts, Brisbane (2015) and Artereal Gallery, Sydney (2016).